1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for cleaning a packed column utilized for gas cleaning, in a scrubbing operation performed with a scrubbing medium; the column being plugged with formed deposits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known from Ullmanns Encyklopaedie der Technischen Chemie 2: 591-595, 1972, to utilize packed columns as absorption apparatus. Packed columns are particularly suitable for gas cleaning because they provide large gas/liquid mass transfer areas and, thus, an especially effective scrubbing environment.
However, in one such embodiment, elemental sulfur is suspended in the scrubbing fluid from oxidative H.sub.2 S scrubbing operations and forms deposits within the scrubbing column; for this reason, packed columns, i.e., columns containing pieces of packing material such as are well known to those in the art, are readily plugged, i.e., clogged, by elemental sulfur. This phenomenon is caused by a variety of formed deposits, and can also occur in other scrubbing operations, for example, metal sulfides or metal carbonyls in methanol scrubbing operations, phosphines in potash scrubbing operations and the like. In Ullmanns Encyklopaedie der Technischen Chemie 2: 595, 1972, it was recommended not to use packed columns in scrubbing operations if a danger of contamination from deposits existed.